


Black Water

by duelmepharaoh (captain_indigo)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Temporary Amnesia, Temporary Character Death, also parts of this are solid fluff, basically i've just seen pirates of the carribean way too many times, lovecraftian horror elements, mild body horror, oc villain is taken from lovecraft mythos, skippable sex scene marked with bold asterisks, there were Ancient Egyptian Parallels and i couldn't resist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-08-23 10:10:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20241139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_indigo/pseuds/duelmepharaoh
Summary: Seto Kaiba wakes up in the middle of an unfamiliar ocean, with few resources and even fewer memories of how he got there. Guided by a familiar face, and troubled by his returning memories, he sails for safety through treacherous waters.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Big Bang artist this year was [Mimibanii](https://mimibanii.tumblr.com)! Check out the art [here](https://mimibanii.tumblr.com/post/187082397953/heres-my-full-piece-i-did-for-duelmepharaoh-s) if you don't mind very slight spoilers, and it will also be posted in the relevant chapter. <3

They came in the dark of the moon, not wanting to take any chance of being spotted.

"It's such a deserted beach Atem, you don't have to worry so much."

Atem squinted warily through the dark as they surfaced, coming up beneath the pylons supporting the dock.

"Hush, Yugi. Anyone could hear us." Swimming up to the shore, the two turned in the water, settling onto the sand. "I hate this."

"It wouldn't be so uncomfortable if you did it more often. I know lots of perfectly decent humans we could visit, if you want an excuse to practice switching forms. I think you and Anzu would get along swimmingly." Yugi didn't have to be able to see Atem in the dark to feel his glare, both at the suggestion and at the pun. 

If a human had been watching, they would have witnessed a strange sight indeed. Atem and Yugi lifted their long glittering fish tails from the water and appeared to simply split them in two. Yugi had gained his feet and was stumbling up the beach in just a few moments. Atem struggled, yanking impatiently at the last foot and wincing.

"Going back and forth like this gives me a headache."

"You were pretty eager to come tonight, after I told you what he can do," Yugi reminded Atem in a mild voice, offering him the pants that had been left for them by the edge of the dock in a chest. Atem sighed.

"Some things--some people are worth it. I will get him back, whatever it takes."

"I wish you could tell me what happened. It can't really have been all your fault."

"If you have one flaw, it's that you always think the best of people."

"It isn't a flaw," Yugi answered firmly, "and even if it was all your fault, I still think you should tell me. You were only on that ship to rescue me, after all, so I’m sure it’s my fault too."

Atem looked grim, silently wobbling his way up the rest of the hill of sand that led to the house. It was a strange thing, to have something built so near the water and still be standing. This coast wasn't free of storms by any means, and the tides were something to behold. The house was nothing but dark, weathered wood and a few glass panes. It should have fallen apart after the first summer, but considering who lived there, Atem assumed it would still be standing at the end of the world. Atem hesitated, but Yugi marched right up to the door and gave it a tap.

"Come in!"

Yugi burst through the door, throwing his arms around the speaker, while Atem closed the door behind them and hung back, fiddling with the pocket of his breeches.

"Interesting." Extracting himself from Yugi's enthusiastic embrace, Ryou Bakura looked Atem over, nodding politely. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Atem looked hopefully at Yugi, but Yugi just smiled encouragingly and made a shooing motion in Atem’s direction.

"I ah...need a favor."

"I see." Shadows flickered over Ryou's face, sending a shiver up Atem's spine. The cabin grew chilly, in spite of the roaring fire. Ryou's hair drifted in the sudden breeze, and he moved forward, taking Atem's face in his pale, soft hands. Atem looked into the sea witch's eyes, and couldn't have moved if he'd wanted to. They were black, not the patchy flat black of a tarred ship hull, nor the shiny black of a petrel's wing. Ryou's eyes reminded him of the Depths, where the water was so dark and cold it began to feel solid around one's tail, where things grew white and monstrous in the crevices of the ocean's belly, and where it was deathly silent right up until those things had their teeth buried in your flesh. Then he blinked, and Ryou's eyes were grey-blue again, and sad as he took his hands from Atem's face. "He's gone. You know he is. And where he's gone to there's no coming back. I'm sorry."

"No." Atem's voice surprised even himself. It was as dark and cold as Ryou's eyes had been just moments before. Atem grabbed Ryou by the shoulders, staring him down, ignoring Yugi's distressed objection. "If you know that much, you know why I must get him back. If I have to spend the rest of my life searching for a way, I will." Ryou just looked at him for a moment. The gold at Atem’s throat glinted red in the firelight, and the shadows thrown behind him seemed to grow.

"I suppose you would." Ryou lay a hand on Yugi's arm, laughing a little. "It's ok, he's just scared." Atem scowled, but let go his grip on Ryou's arms. "There is a way." It wasn't until that moment, when Atem's eyes grew fierce with joy, that Yugi realized the full depth of Atem's feelings. How could he have missed it?

"And you'll tell me?" Atem asked, wariness tempering his excitement.

"For a price."

"Ryou!" Yugi cried out, his mouth dropping open.

"There must always be a price. It’s not personal. That's just how these things work." Ryou sat at a small table, gesturing for Atem and Yugi to sit across from him. "And I have an idea."

From a small woven bag, Ryou pulled a deck of cards, each covered with gilded drawings of humans, sea dwellers, natural wonders, and things that Yugi had never seen and hoped he never would. Ryou placed Atem's hands on the edge of a silken cloth that covered the table.

"Picture him." Ryou's voice dropped to barely a whisper. "And not just that, summon him into your mind's eye. Bring up every detail of his face, his voice, the way he moves, his moods, his hands, the billow of his coat in the wind, even his smell. Bring him here."

Ryou's voice whispered in and out like the waves, and Atem's eyes fluttered closed. A hint of a smile began to play at the corners of his mouth.

"Good." Ryou shuffled the cards, slipping them back and forth in his hands, till Atem's shoulders dropped free of their tension, and his mouth went soft. "Very good."

He flipped out the cards in the shape of a cross. On the left card three merfolk lay on a rocky outcropping, calling out to a human who leaned down precariously from the edge of a ship. It was clear that they were singing, and Yugi could have sworn for a moment their voices filled the room. On the right card a great ship's wheel turned in the air, covered in seaweed and half rotted away. The top card was nothing but sky, constellations Yugi didn't recognize spinning forever around a single point of light. Ryou bit his lip, his hand shaking a little as he drew the card at the center of the cross. A human stood at an altar, their tools of magic spread out before them, staring intently at the pages of a book. Ryou hesitated.

Not sure why, but equally sure that it was needed, Yugi moved to kneel next to Ryou, and put a hand on his shoulder. Ryou relaxed, his breathing evening out just slightly, and drew the lowest arm of the cross. A sea lion sunned on a rock, so warm and comfortable that Yugi could almost feel the rays on his own face. Next to it sat a young merman, his hands wrapped gently around the sea lion’s fearsome lower teeth. Ryou's lip trembled, but his hands were steady as he set down the rest of the cards.

"Okay, Atem. Let him go, for now. Return to us."

Atem opened his eyes, blinking owlishly. He looked down at the cards, and his fingertips brushed the central figure. Then he looked up at Ryou.

"Tell me your price."

Ryou nodded, his gaze still distant, as if listening to a voice only he could hear.

“Are you sure?” he muttered, though clearly not in reply to Atem. Then he nodded, and rose from his chair. “I need payment from both of you.”

Pulling a golden key from underneath his shirt, he unlocked a small drawer in one of the many cabinets that lined the walls. Retrieving a piece of paper, he spread it open on the table.

“This. You’ve seen it before?” Atem frowned at the drawing.

“Yes. Kaiba wears it everywhere.” Atem looked up at Ryou. “I’m not sure he’d part with it.”

“Is it worth his life?” Ryou asked softly. Atem sighed, looking away into the firelight.

“Very well. And the payment from me?”

Ryou moved his finger, an inch to the right. A golden pyramid with a single eye in the center glittered up at him, drawn in some kind of metallic ink he’d never seen before. Atem hesitated, fingering the chain around his neck.

“What do they do?”

“They open a door--” Ryou began, but then broke off as if his voice had been stolen mid-sentence. He swallowed thickly a few times, and then continued. “Do you accept my bargain? Passage there and back. Whether or not you survive your time within that realm is out of my power.”

Atem barely hesitated.

“Tell me what to do.”

“You really do love him,” Ryou murmured, ignoring Atem’s glare. “Follow this map--” he jumped to his feet, rummaging in another drawer for a scrap of parchment with some unpleasant-looking reddish brown stains, “and you’ll find the portal. You’re lucky the stars are aligned for this kind of thing. Keep your necklace for now, you’ll need it to pass in and out. I can give you this much protection, but the realms of the dead will drain you the longer you stay.”

Ryou hooked the small golden pendant out of Atem’s shirt with a finger and passed his thumb over the eye in the middle, muttering in a language Atem could have sworn he’d heard before.

“Done. I must warn you that death takes much. It takes our bodies, our memories, and eventually our souls. I cannot tell you what state he’ll be in when you find him, although his own pendant may offer him some protection from any magic that affects the mind, and Kisara’s power will help protect his soul. Get in, get out. Try not to join him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always end the Big Bang wondering how the heck I survived, but here we are! Other chapters will be posted over the course of the day as I finish those last-minute edits... And huge thanks to [Supersteffy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supersteffy/pseuds/Supersteffy) for the awesome beta-ing!


	2. Alone on the Water

He awoke slowly, dark and restless dreams clinging to him as his senses reasserted themselves in a disorderly line. Something swelled and faded in his ears, soft, with an occasional hollow thud that sent his dark world tipping gently. His stomach rolled a little, and then cramped as it realized there was nothing for it to bring up to begin with. Something rough bit into his side where he was curled up--_they were waves,_ his brain supplied, finally. _He was in a boat._

Kaiba tried to open his mouth and eyes, but they resisted, sending sparks of pain through the skin of his face. He tried to move his hands, and they buzzed as if he had been still for a very long time. Rubbing at his face he could feel something dried there, flaking away under his fingers. His tongue finally made it out from behind his chapped lips, and he flinched. Salt. He brushed away as much as he could, but his eyes still stung when he managed to get them open.

He needn't have bothered. It was still black as pitch.

Kaiba tried to sit up, but his head spun in protest. He tried to groan aloud, but all that came out was a dry croak. He coughed, and tried to sit up again, wobbling as the boat rocked in the arms of the waves. This time he made it.

Once his head had stopped spinning, he felt around, groping blindly in the dark. His clothes were also dusty with dried salt, but at least he was mostly dry. The belly of the boat sloped up under his knees, and he found the sides about an arm span away from him on either side. Feeling around the edge, he found wooden beams protruding from one side.

_ A double hull. That explains why it's so stable for such a narrow boat._ And then, _how do I know that?_

Confusion and thirst dragged at his mind, till he gave in and lay down again.

_ Just for a minute, and then I'll find water,_ he promised himself, closing his eyes.

He refused to consider the possibility that there might not be any water to find.

He woke again, so dry he thought he could feel his skin flaking away from his body along with the salt. He tried to swallow and choked, lurching to his knees in a coughing fit.

It was still dark, and fatigue gnawed at him, but there was another even hungrier thought:_ I need to find water. _Closing his eyes had retrieved a little of his sense, so Kaiba began resolutely feeling his way around the boat.

There were a few benches, and a few raw edges where benches should have been, as if they’d been torn away. There were a few ripped tarps, wool blankets, bits of rope, crinkling and catching his fingers, but nothing else of interest. That left only one other course of action.

Kaiba felt his way over to where the crossbeams led out into the unknown. He crawled out, gripping the beams with stiff fingers. Hand over hand he crawled, feeling the chill of the ocean rising beneath him, till his hand met the edge of the other hull of the boat. His body complained bitterly as he turned to find the bottom with his feet.

He landed on more blankets, damp but not waterlogged, and small tins of hard biscuits that he felt no draw towards at all. Finally he found a collection of metal canisters that gurgled, musically it seemed, when he jarred them with his elbow. The first gulp of water tasted like ambrosia, and he took another gulp, and a third, before he managed to stop himself. If he drank too fast at first, he'd only throw it back up again.

"A sailor." His voice sounded like a death rattle, but it was audible. Kaiba took another deliberate sip of water. "No. A captain. I was a captain." He wasn't sure how he knew, only that he said it, and it sounded right. That was enough for him.

The next time he awoke, dawn was just beginning to break, if dawn it could be called. It was light, anyway, although he couldn't see anything beyond the fog that blanketed the water around him. He shivered, finally noticing the chill in his body, as if sating his thirst had only made him aware of further discomforts. He pulled one of the damp wool blankets around him, and took in the boat.

It was indeed a double-hulled boat, two canoes parallel to each other with wooden braces in between. A single sail hung from a mast the center, and outriggers protruded from the outer edges of both canoes, giving the craft the stability to sail the open ocean. The side he'd woken up on the first time was mostly empty except for a few blankets. The side he was in now had supplies, although not quite enough for him to feel comfortable, considering he had no idea what part of the sea he was in. The sail wasn’t torn as far as he could see, but its white folds hung limp, twitching occasionally in the nearly still air. There was still no sound, no birds to point him in the direction of land, no crash of waves on the shore, nothing but the steady lap of the waves against his boat and the dense silence of the fog lying heavy in his ears.

Kaiba sat in silence, staring at nothing as he thought.

He had been a captain. He remembered the wheel worn smooth by his hands, the wind in his hair, the scratch of a pen as he balanced his books. He remembered shouting, screams, and a swell of unearthly horror in his chest, immobilizing his limbs and making his stomach turn. He remembered a red flash of pain, and then nothing...

Something occurred to him, and he threw off the blanket, feeling himself carefully all over. Normal seaman's clothes, breeches and a loose shirt, a charm hanging from a cord of leather around his neck, boots, belt. He wasn't injured. He was the opposite, his skin soft and white as fish-flesh, his callouses gone, his face unblemished by the sea. The only thing to mark that he had ever led the life of a sailor was a thin scar on his neck, just under his jawline.

It was wrong, wrong, just as the fear that swamped him had been wrong, as if reality had twisted back on itself when he wasn't looking.

Kaiba lurched to the edge of the boat just in time to lose what little of the rations he had eaten. He dragged himself back under the blanket, and fell into a fitful sleep.

He wasn't sure what woke him. It was dark again, but it was almost better that way. Even the starless black was somehow less oppressive than the fog had been. He was about to turn over and go back to sleep, when it struck him again. He could hear nothing out of the ordinary, but the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. He was being watched.

Moving as silently as he could, he reached for the fisherman's knife he'd found among the boxes. The handle was comfortingly solid. No reason to wait, he thought grimly.

"Well? Are you going to lurk out there all night?"

A chuckle floated out of the darkness, and he felt the boat dip as if someone rested on the side.

"I see the little nap didn't sweeten your disposition Kaiba. Is that how you greet all your friends?"

It was cheery enough, but there was some hesitation in the words that put Kaiba on edge.

"Only the ones that watch me sleep." Kaiba paused, his thoughts tripping over each other. "Remind me why I put up with you again?"

Silence.

"You don't remember."

Their voice was flat and certain, and almost disappointed. If they were that sure of Kaiba's bluff, they must know him well indeed. Shrugging, Kaiba went on.

"Ok then. I don't. Are you going to enlighten me?"

The voice grumbled something in a language Kaiba didn't know, but was still unmistakably a curse.

"You really don't remember anything?"

"I was a captain. There was screaming."

"Then you're lucky. Ryou said you might not remember anything at all till we returned. Although maybe some things are best forgotten."

Their voice softened, tired and sad, but Kaiba's irritation only grew.

"Nonsense. Incomplete information is worse than none at all. If you aren't going to give me any information, at least tell me what you want with me."

There was only silence.

"Then point me to the nearest land and get out of my way."

There was urgency suddenly, though Kaiba wasn't sure where it came from. The feelings, unmoored from their source, were still strong enough that they refused to be ignored. The silence went on just long enough that Kaiba was about to go back to sleep, and damn this unforthcoming stranger.

"Very well. You won't be able to navigate in this fog. I'll guide you."

"It has to burn off sometime," Kaiba grumbled, not wanting to be around this irritating person any longer than was necessary. He heard a rueful laugh.

"Now I'm sure you don't remember. The fog will follow you till you leave this place."

"Fantastic. Because I definitely needed magical weather on top of being stuck in this pitiful boat on the open sea and barely remembering my own name. Can we get on our way already?"

Kaiba felt his way back to the rudder.

"It's almost dawn. Tomorrow night."

"Afraid to face me?"

The voice cursed again, and this time Kaiba felt the unfamiliar words slip around in his brain, as if he could understand them if he just listened hard enough.

“Of course I am, you gods-blessed--no. We’ll start tomorrow. Get some more sleep, you look exhausted. I’ll keep watch in case any of them find us."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kaiba snapped, but there was a quiet splash, and no answer returned out of the darkness. With so much that was foreign and familiar at once swirling through his brain, it was good that Kaiba had exhaustion to drag him back into unconsciousness.

It was very boring, Kaiba discovered, being alone on the water, although he assumed the owner of the voice from the night before was still out there somewhere. The same sounds, the same still air, the same fog wetting every breath. Occasionally he would close his eyes, trying to penetrate the swirling of his memories.

_Light. Heat. Burning wood, burning flesh, burning tar. Screaming. No, not just screaming, screaming his name. Seto! Seto stop! Se-_

"-to!"

Kaiba jerked, the tin of biscuits in his hand clattering to the floor of the boat. It was fully dark again, with just enough moonlight filtering through the mist that he wasn't totally blind. He couldn't tell how long he'd been sitting there, but his legs ached as he unfolded them. A pair of red eyes under a wild shock of hair peered nervously at him over the edge of the boat, dropping quickly out of sight. Kaiba's throat was dry again, and he fumbled with one of the water jugs before he could speak.

"Are you really that ugly?" he rasped.

"What?"

"You said you’re afraid to face me. And if you know me well enough that we're on a first name basis, you can't imagine whatever kind of creature you are will scare me. It's the only other explanation I can think of."

There was a silent pause. Then the creature pulled themselves up with webbed hands and sharp nails, hanging over the edge of the boat and glaring. No, Kaiba thought, vaguely annoyed. Definitely not ugly.

Even in such dim light, Kaiba could make out the strong nose and sharp chin of the merman's face. His dark skin shifted in the filtered moonlight, merging smoothly at the waist with the deep red scales of the tail that swept out behind him. His eyes glowed the same color, only mostly with irritation. His hair was dark as well, tied back in neat rows of braids, shot through with streaks of red and gold. The subtle gills along the sides of his throat twitched in the air.

"You haven't gotten any less obnoxious, I see," the merman grumbled, and Kaiba blinked at the glimpse of very white, sharp teeth behind his full red lips.

"And yet here you are, offering to steer me to land out of the goodness of your heart."

The creature opened his mouth, closed it, appeared to go through a very violent internal struggle, and settled on sliding back into the water with a splash. Kaiba wasn't sure how a splash could sound angry, but this one did.

"Do you remember how to steer a damn boat, or have you forgotten that as well?"

Kaiba opened his mouth, about to say that of course he didn't know how to steer a boat, until he realised he did. He moved to the back, his body falling into well-worn paths as he gripped the worn-smooth pole at the back of the craft, staring down at it like he expected it to bite him.

"I guess I do," he muttered.

"Then follow. I'm not going to pull you like some domesticated seahorse."

He heard the creature sigh, and the air quivered around them. Kaiba's skin prickled, and a light breeze sprang up, filling the sails with a quiet pop. Kaiba looked ahead, expecting to have to squint to see the merman in the dim light, and almost gasped.

The merman glowed softly, golden light shimmering over his skin, dancing on his scales like sunlight. _Radiant_, Kaiba thought, and was immediately grateful he hadn't said it aloud. The next moment he wasn't sure he hadn't, as the merman grinned back at him, executing a slow roll that showed off his entire body.

"Are you coming?"

"Of course. Let's get on with it."

Kaiba blinked, trying not to feel foolish. A sense of oddly familiar heat was building in his gut, watching the flick of the creature’s tail, the sinuous flex of his waist, the burning hold of his eyes.

"You always did like when I did that," the merman remarked, and then turned away, his tail propelling him smoothly through the water. Kaiba followed the merman with his eyes, his head whirling with questions, dearly hoping he wasn’t as flushed as he felt.

"We knew each other."

"Yes."

Kaiba snorted.

"Care to elaborate on that?"

"...what do you remember?"

"I asked first."

"Set--Kaiba, your mind might be in a very delicate place, I'm trying not to--listen, I'm only trying to help. Can't you trust me?"

_Always. Never again._ Both answers gripped Kaiba, clutching at him from still-dark corners of his memory, and he ground his teeth.

"Why should I trust you? I don't know who you are, where we are, how you found me. I don't even know your name for fuck's sake."

"You'll be glad to know your brother has taken up the mantle of cursing in your place; you really must have a talk with him when we get home."

"Mokuba," Kaiba whispered, black hair and violet eyes flickering through his mind. How could he have forgotten Mokuba? He could feel a headache brewing, and shook his head furiously. He was probably just dehydrated. "He's ok? He's safe?"

"Of course, we'd never let anything happen to him." Atem turned in the water, his arms flexing as he pulled himself up to sit on one of the crossbeams of the boat. "We can keep this course till morning." Kaiba eyed him, turning everything over in his mind.

"I remember being captain, and I remember something bad happening. I remember someone screaming. Now that you mentioned him, I remember Mokuba." And he was remembering, slowly, bits and pieces of their childhood settling back into his mind like silt after a storm. "Now you. At least tell me your name." Kaiba crossed his arms, scowling. The merman looked a little nervous, but nodded.

"Atem."

Kaiba's looming headache exploded like a hull around a cannonball, splintering in bright fragments as his knees buckled. He clutched his head, swearing, and--

_His ship was groaning around him, wreathed in fire and blood. His crew hacked at the enemy, half panicked, looking to him for orders. Kaiba was frozen. His body wouldn't move, his mouth was sealed shut, his head would not turn away. Kisara rallied the men, her wings flaring wide as she blasted a gaping hole through one of the horrible things that lept at her with a sword. Kaiba knew he was dead. They all were, most likely, but Kaiba couldn't mourn because there he was, the one who had led him, led them all this way._

Someone held him, cradling his head and touching a water jug to his lips. He tried to drink, coughed, and tried again.

"Seto?" Kaiba managed to open his eyes, squinting. A pair of anxious red eyes loomed over him in the dark. "Oh, thank the gods." Atem leaned down and kissed him soundly on the mouth. Kaiba tensed, disoriented, still shaking from the visions that had overwhelmed him. Atem jerked away as though he'd been burned, almost dropping Kaiba in the process. "I'm--I apologize. Habit."

There was a very awkward silence, as Kaiba attempted to regain his senses and shake himself free of the feeling of Atem’s lips that lingered long after it should have gone.

"Water," he finally managed to croak.

Atem helped him sit up in silence, putting the water jug back to his lips. He got down a few more swallows before he felt his throat clear. He squinted up at Atem again, who was watching him like Kaiba would disappear if he so much as blinked. A glimmer of light was starting to peek through the fog, and Atem's brow wrinkled.

"Go," Kaiba grunted. "Don't look at me like that. Just need some sleep." Atem relaxed, his mouth twitching.

"I feel extremely reassured. Rest well."

Kaiba, too worn out to answer, rolled over under a blanket and let the blessed quiet and darkness swallow him whole.

_In his dreams he sailed still, his hand easy on the wheel of his ship. He ignored the stars, dim as they were, and followed instead the glowing form that moved ahead of him under the waves._

He must have slept for a long time, for when he awoke it had become night again. He rolled over, fumbling for a water jug. Peering over the side of the boat, he saw Atem, steering them through the water with a rope thrown over his shoulders.

"Seahorse," Kaiba managed to rasp. Atem huffed.

"If you feel well enough to snark, you must be well enough to steer on your own." He swam easily up to the boat, coiling the rope and tossing it over the side. "What happened?"

"I...remembered."

Atem went utterly grey.

"Could you possibly specify? There was a lot, there at the end."

Kaiba stared at him grimly for a moment, running his fingers over the scar below his jaw.

"I'm dead, aren’t I."

"Oh."

Atem's lips pinched, and he quickly looked away, staring out over the dark water.

"That was where you were supposed to tell me I was wrong," Kaiba muttered wearily, his skull starting to throb again. "Are you dead too?"

"No. I survived." Atem still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Then why the hell are you here?"

"I came to get you, you idiot! Why else? I’m certainly not swimming around in these death-filled waters for my health!" Atem shouted, spinning to face Kaiba again as his tail whipped the water behind him. Kaiba just stared at him, incredulous.

"You just woke up one day and decided you felt like taking a field trip to the underworld?" Kaiba snapped, not even sure why he was so angry.

"No, I just felt--I couldn't bear to lose--" Atem sputtered, but Kaiba kept talking over him.

"And let me guess, Y'lla just opened up the watery gates and-" Atem hauled himself into the boat, knocking Kaiba over and clapping a hand over his mouth.

"Don't speak their names, for pity's sake Kaiba, especially not here," he hissed frantically. "Maybe if you hadn't--"

Atem went still, hand tight over Kaiba's mouth. He buried his face in Kaiba's shoulder, shaking, lips moving in some silent mantra against the skin of Kaiba's neck. Startled into silence, Kaiba heard it. It was barely a whisper, a slightly stronger rocking of the boat. If Atem hadn't shut him up, he might not have heard it at all. Something scraped against the hull, and gave a soft, clattering cry like the knocking of bones together in the wind. Kaiba moved as slowly as he could manage, wrapping an arm around Atem's waist. He remembered then, and almost wished that he hadn't, that there were things much worse than death in this world, and that the one whose name he had just called enjoyed playing with its food as much as eating it.


	3. Y'lla

Kaiba kept his breath shallow, but his heartbeat seemed determined to announce their presence to the thing that circled their boat. Atem was supernaturally still in his arms, with only the sweep of his lashes against Kaiba's cheek to remind him that Atem hadn't somehow turned to stone. There was nothing they could do but wait. And pray, if Kaiba had been that kind of man.

Kaiba felt achingly small, like a grain of sand against the huge dark ocean, against the ancient unknowable consciousness that tapped gently against the flimsy hull of his boat. Would it hurt to die again? He wondered absently, listening for the scrape of Y'lla's vicious rows of teeth, of the squelch of its many arms creeping over the sides. He circled his thumb against the bare skin of Atem's waist, and it felt as natural as breathing, and utterly ridiculous in the face of their fate. Atem shifted noiselessly, pressing his nose against Kaiba's jaw in answer. It was an odd time to remember, but Kaiba did.

_He lay on his back in a different boat, smaller, a simple lifeboat, tied by a long rope to the end of the pier._

_ "Wouldn't your crew be shocked?" Atem laughed, his nails tracing unknown coastlines over the sweaty skin of Kaiba's chest._

_"Not if they knew what was good for them," Kaiba grumbled, yanking Atem closer by the hips. "People can bed who they please on my ship. Prejudice is inefficient."_

_"Your logical justifications don't fool me for a moment." Atem smiled and dipped his head, kissing his way up Kaiba's throat and pretending not to see Kaiba's blush._

_"And if my rules weren't reason enough, I can remind them of how open-minded they all got the last time we met some sirens unprepared."_

_"I don't believe I've heard that one."_

_"And neither will you, unless they force my hand." Kaiba tangled his fingers through Atem's braids, pulling him back till their eyes could meet. “I may not be a benevolent dictator, but neither am I needlessly cruel.”_

_"So ruthless," Atem quipped, parting his lips in invitation. Kaiba grinned, leaning up and-_

Something cold and oozing touched his cheek, and Atem gripped him tighter. The warmth of that memory vanished in an instant. This was it then, Kaiba thought grimly, cupping the back of Atem's head as if he could protect him through will alone. They would be torn apart by the master of the seas, one of the old gods that lurked in the dark corners of the world, and Mokuba would wait in vain. But if there was no hope at all, then--

Kaiba pushed Atem carefully to the side, and scrambled to his feet. He was not going to die on his back, cowering under someone he--Kaiba grasped in the dark for his knife, but it had gotten knocked away in the shuffle. It didn't matter. He grabbed one of the water jugs, holding it by the neck out in front of him like a blade. The soft, icy feelers poked at him for a moment, and he heard Atem hiss behind him in the dark. Then the boat moved, and Kaiba could feel the heat of Atem standing at his back. Kaiba's throat grew tight, but he had no time to examine it.

**YOU WOULD FIGHT ME WITH...THAT?**

Y'lla sounded almost bemused.

"I could use my fists, if you think the water jug is an unfair advantage," Kaiba answered coldly, trying to keep his hands from shaking.

Y'lla laughed, or he thought it did. It sounded more like the choking of water-filled lungs than anything else, but somehow he felt the thing's amusement. It brought its head up out of the water. Kaiba was glad he couldn't see it, given the usual fate of those sailors who had, but just to feel the hot rotting breath of it float past him in the dark almost made him drop his feeble weapon. The laughter ended, snipped off like a frayed piece of rope.

**MOST OF YOUR KIND WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SPEAK, MUCH LESS STAND IN MY PRESENCE...WELL WELL WELL. WHAT HAVE WE HERE, LITTLE CAPTAIN? PERHAPS THIS IS OUR ANSWER.**

And icy tendril poked at Kaiba's collar, lifting the necklace from where it lay on his chest. Kaiba looked down, and saw one of his charms begin to shimmer with a strange purple light. It was a golden rod he'd found on some raid or another, bound to the necklace from one end. It was topped with an orb, surrounded by bat-like wings and an unnerving lidless eye. It had seemed to make him more intimidating, to which Kaiba had no objections, but... The eye blinked. It turned on its axis, looking up into the dark at the monstrous form Kaiba knew was there. Kaiba stared, in spite of the pain, and felt something too thick to be tears begin to trickle from the corners of his eyes.

**HOW INTERESTING.**

Y’lla hissed something that made Kaiba want to scream, but he forced it back down, watching in fascination. The eye blinked again, and looked up at him. He felt a soft thump, and then a second, as if the thing had a beating heart all its own. The feelers retreated back over the side of the boat, and water sloshed against the hull as the hulking form dropped back under the waves.

**FAIR WINDS, UNLUCKY HUMAN,** the thing called. **I HAVE A FEELING YOU TWO WILL BRING ME MORE ENTERTAINMENT ALIVE THAN IN MY BELLY.**

They stood motionless, straining their ears out into the dark, but there was no more sound.

"Gods," Atem muttered. "Only you would try to fight one of the Deep Ones with a water jug."

"I wasn't about to just lie there and get eaten."

They went silent again. Kaiba stared into the night, his fingers tracing the eye on his golden pendant. A few more exuberant waves slapped against the boat. Atem finally sat, pulling Kaiba's trouser leg till he joined him.

"Do you mind if I stay? I'd rather not get back in the water till dawn if it's all the same to you."

"Hmm." Kaiba wasn't listening, squinting down at his necklace.

"Kaiba?"

"Have you seen anything like this before?"

Kaiba pulled the necklace over his head and held it out. Atem took it between his fingers and a wicked chill rolled up his arms. He stared intently at the markings, wanting to be sure. The golden eye blinked again. Or was it a wink? Atem nearly dropped it, handing it hastily back to Kaiba.

"I think this is what Ryou sent me to get." Atem answered after a moment.

"Bakura? Your brother's friend?" Until that moment, Kaiba could have sworn he knew nothing of Atem’s friends or family, but there it was.

"You know him? I'm surprised, you don't usually make a point to remember our friends."

"I do when they could be a threat," Kaiba answered, pressing his lips together. "He's too powerful a sea witch and I know too little about him for comfort. He sent you to get this?"

Atem pulled up a golden chain around his own neck, dangling a glittering pyramid before Kaiba’s astonished eyes. The charms had clearly come from the same maker, whoever it might be.

"These were his price. I needed a way to find you, and he needed these charms. It was beneficial to both of us."

"Why does he want it?"

"I don't know," Atem sighed. "Does it matter? I had to get you back. It's not like he's going to destroy the world with it or something. Yugi trusts him. Are you really going to be so suspicious you'd rather stay in the land of the dead?"

“Yugi trusts everyone,” Kaiba grumbled. "No, that would be idiotic."

Kaiba realized the dark was lifting, and he could see Atem's sharp features in the pre-dawn light. He turned slightly and stared him down.

"So."

"Yes?"

"You and I. We were lovers?" Atem nodded, watching Kaiba carefully. "Hmm."

"Do you remember?"

"A little."

"That makes sense. Ryou said you'd remember more the closer we get to the end of this godsforsaken place." Atem looked away, into the fog as it began to glow with the sunrise. "And by the time we’re back, you should remember...all of it." Kaiba caught Atem's jaw, bringing them nose to nose.

"And what is it you don't want me to remember so badly?"

For a single moment, he wished he hadn't asked. Atem's eyes glittered with some unbearable weight, and Kaiba's chest took on an unfamiliar ache.

"You'll remember eventually whether I wish it or not. I am the reason you are dead, Seto." Atem drew Kaiba's hand away by the wrist, as Kaiba stared at him in shock. “And I am very, very sorry.”

Kaiba waited, suddenly cold as ice, memories tickling the edge of his vision. He waited, with forced patience, for something, anything to come to him that disproved what Atem said. Nothing came. Kaibe drew his hand deliberately from Atem’s grasp.

“You are, aren’t you.”

Atem nodded, clearly waiting to be told to go to hell, as if they weren’t already there. Kaiba growled, rubbing his temples, frustrated beyond belief at the gaps in his memory. It _was_ Atem’s fault, but there was something more to the story, something he couldn’t quite reach.

“So you get me killed, because I notice you didn’t say ‘I killed you’, and then you go to all this trouble to get me un-killed? Interesting strategy you have there. Anything else to confess? You’re just some phantom of my dying brain? We’re actually both alive and this is all just an elaborate ruse to lure me into the water and drown me and feast on my bones?”

Atem choked, almost startled into laughter.

“You’ve already made that joke, you know.”

“No!” Kaiba snapped. “I don’t know because I can’t remember!”

Atem’s face ruffled through anger, hurt, and disbelief like feathers in the breeze, before settling on complete confusion.

“I’m s--I know.”

“You got me killed.” Atem nodded. “But Mokuba is ok. And Kisara.” Atem nodded again. “My ship?” Atem drooped. “And my crew?” Atem visibly winced this time, and Kaiba sat down heavily on one of the benches. “Damn you.” Kaiba buried his face in his hands, searching, searching. “We were chasing something--someone?” At Atem’s silence, Kaiba looked up, ready to demand more answers, but he stopped.

“Got away,” Atem answered, staring off into the fog. His jaw was tight, his pendant glittered eerily, and the mist seemed to darken, twisting around him like snakes. Kaiba barely suppressed a shudder. Then the answer hit him, and he jerked Atem around by the shoulders. “Kaiba, what-”

“It got away,” Kaiba hissed, their faces inches apart.

“Yes, that’s what-”

“That means it’s probably still after Mokuba. And…” Kaiba blinked, disoriented as another face, so similar to the one before him flickered in his memory. “Yugi. It was after Yugi too.” Atem squeezed Kaiba’s wrists, and Kaiba realized his nails were digging into Atem’s skin. He jerked away, gritting his teeth. “What the hell are we still doing here?”

“I can’t-” Atem coughed, his voice rough. “I can’t make the journey any shorter. The realms of the dead won’t release us until it’s…finished.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Atem sighed, dropping to his knees in the bottom of the boat.

“I do not know. Not really. That’s just what Ryou said. Even if I managed to find you, we can’t just leave. We will be tested-”

“I’m already being tested.”

Atem paused, again looking almost as if he wanted to laugh.

“What are you doing? I just told you I got you killed. Why are you listening to a word I say?”

“I told you, I’m not an idiot,” Kaiba answered grimly. “You know the way out, I don’t. And as I’m already dead, it seems unlikely you could do me much more harm.”


	4. The Island

They sailed for many days in near silence, with no more sign of the creatures they both knew haunted these deathly waters. Still, Atem’s skin gained an ill-looking cast, never improving except briefly after they rested. Atem never said where he went to sleep, and Kaiba was happy not to have to make idle chit-chat before they rested. 

Kaiba leaned over the edge, tracing the elegant lines of the white dragon painted on the side of the hull.  _ Kisara. _ The waves had grown, and the boat creaked as it was lifted a bit by a swell. He could picture her now, both dragon and human, with blue eyes somehow both kinder and more piercing than his own. Some of the paint flaked away under his fingers, and he shivered.

_ A cool, salty breeze picked up, ruffling Kaiba's hair. He glanced up from his book, eyes flicking out over the moonlit sea. Noting nothing of interest, he went back to his reading. The mast swayed beneath him, ropes creaking as the helmsman put away his tools and adjusted their course. The stars were bright that night, guiding them steadily northwards. As he always had, Kaiba sensed Kisara's approach, even on her silent wings, not looking up as she dropped lightly to one of the yardarms nearby. _

_ "Many captains spare themselves the night watch." _

_ "And how is what other captains do relevant to me? Report." When Kisara remained silent, Kaiba finally looked up from his book and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Please." She folded her wings against her back, stretching her tired shoulders. Her scales shimmered in the moonlight as she finally spoke. _

_ "Of course. There's a storm brewing to the west." _

_ "A natural one? Good, we could use the wind." _

_ "We may not need it for much longer. I saw land in the distance, maybe a few days sail farther north." Kaiba looked up again, eyes glinting, marking his place in the book with a thumb. _

_ "And?"  _

_ Kisara smiled. _

_ "I believe it is our destination. I will give the helmsman our heading, if you wish."  _ _ Kaiba nodded, getting to his feet and staring north, trying to pierce the darkness and the distance by will alone. Kisara walked the yard and stepped into the crow's nest, her tail shifting automatically to balance her as the boat lifted over a swell. She reached up and took Kaiba's face in her delicate hands, turning it down towards her. "Seto. This is still what you want? It will be dangerous." _

_ "It could have killed you. Or Mokuba. It destroyed everything we knew, and you want me to just let it go? How the hell am I supposed to sleep at night knowing that thing could come back and finish what it started? It knew your name, and mine. If the attack on our village wasn’t personal in the beginning, it changed for some reason the moment that thing laid eyes on us."  _

_ Kisara looked at him for a moment, and as usual it seemed like she saw more than Kaiba was comfortable with. _

_ "Then I am with you, to the end."  _

_ Kaiba snorted, removing her hands from his face and turning back towards the ocean. _

_ "Don't be silly. I've done my research. I'll crush that thing under my heel, and then we can move on." _

_ "Of course." _

_ Kisara stepped off the edge, gliding down to the deck and leaving Kaiba to his thoughts. He stared out across the waves, his ears already straining for the sound of gulls and the crash of waves that were surely still a day or two off. His skin prickled. His book lay forgotten on the floor. Soon, he would have his revenge. When his watch ended, Kaiba lay in his cabin, sure that his adrenaline would keep him awake. Much to his surprise, he felt a powerful drowsiness overtake him, and everything faded to the gentle rocking of the waves. _

_ Spurred on by the edge of the storm, they made good time. He and Kisara almost always went ashore alone. This time she stood, arms crossed, gazing at him pleasantly till he twitched a finger at two of his least idiotic crew. _

_ "If you blow our cover I'll have you keelhauled."  _

_ Honda nodded seriously, and Jou gave a mock salute, pausing to grab their equipment. They all still fit in one boat. Muffling the oarlocks with rags, they rowed silently for shore. _

_ The wind died as they pulled up onto the beach, but the temperature kept dropping. They crept across the sand, their brown cloaks blending in well under the cover of darkness. If it was dark when they landed, it only grew more so. Kisara, well-versed in the magic of light, passed her hands over their eyes to let them see through the gloom. _

_ Kaiba paused when Honda gave his elbow a silent touch. Looking up at Honda's nod, Kaiba saw the stars and moon fading, almost gone behind dark clouds in what Kaiba could have sworn was a clear sky when they landed. He nodded back, and continued leading their descent into the underbrush, following a narrow river towards the small hut that Kisara had seen when she flew over.  _

_ The hairs began to rise on the back of Kaiba's neck, and he could see his breath in the air. Something was very wrong. The spell should have been sufficient even for the pitch darkness of a cave, but still the trees around Kaiba were growing dim. He looked over at Kisara, eyebrows raised. She shrugged, frowning, and jerked her head back towards the boat. Kaiba shook his head, pressing his lips together. He was too close to turn back now.  _

_ The hut loomed up out of the darkness, its rough wooden walls black and green with rot. Bark shingled the roof, and Kaiba caught the unnatural slither of whatever insects had made it their residence. He breathed in silently, through his mouth, and held up a hand. The other three paused, and Kaiba pulled a long sword from his belt. The hilt was like any other, but the blade was dark, a flat, featureless black that made you think there might not be anything there at all. He held it ready, curled his fingers around the latch of the door, and tore it open. With a shout, a small figure lept at him, their swords crashing together with a hiss as the blades began to smoke where they met. Kaiba jumped back, trusting that his companions would get out of the way, and the figure followed, not letting up for a moment. Kaiba was fast, but the other was faster, their blade slipping around Kaiba’s as if his opponent could always see his strokes just before they fell. He could hear Kisara whisper something in the background, and a burst of light filled the clearing. The young man jumped back, blinking in surprise, and then lowered his sword with a bitter twist of his mouth. _

_ “You are not who I was waiting for.” _

_ “Apparently we both missed him.” Kaiba looked over at Kisara. “Any ideas?” _

_ “He’s gone, but…” She stared around the clearing, her eyes far off. “For once there is a trail. Either he has made an error, or he baits us, but we did not miss him by a great length of time. We must hurry.” Kaiba looked back at his attacker, and then sheathed his sword, turning to follow Kisara. _

_ “Wait.” The attacker’s hand closed around Kaiba’s wrist. “We hunt the same creature. Take me with you.” _

_ “I don’t have time for dead weight.”  _

_ The stranger grinned, sharp teeth flashing in the light. _

_ “How can I be dead weight when I’m a better swordsman than you are?” _

_ “I also don’t have time to be annoyed by strange bounty hunters who think they’re better than me.” _

_ “My name is Atem. Now we are not strangers. And I am not a bounty hunter.” Atem’s smile darkened. “The creature has my brother.”  _

_ Kaiba stopped, halfway back to the trees. He looked back at Atem, and saw something familiar in his dark red eyes. _

_ “If you slow us down-” _

_ “I won’t.” Atem sheathed his sword, and together they vanished into the trees. _

They had not overtaken the creature that week, or the week after, Kaiba realized, though they had never lost the trail. It had been months until they had caught up to it. It had not been long against all the years Kaiba had searched, but it had been long enough for--more flashes pushed forward, of Atem crawling up into the crows nest to keep watch with him, or to distract him entirely, of a satisfied grin when the dull point of his practice blade rested yet again in the dip below Kaiba’s jaw. Kaiba shook his head vigorously, watching more of the painted dragon flake away into the water. 


	5. The Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Explicit content is around the middle of the chapter and marked by asterisks for anyone who wants to skip it.  
Art below by [Mimibanii](https://mimibanii.tumblr.com/post/187082397953/heres-my-full-piece-i-did-for-duelmepharaoh-s)! Check their blog for some extra art of the characters. <3

Kaiba steered absently, his hands moving on their own as his mind was occupied with thoughts of home. Everything was becoming firmer in his mind, even as their surroundings weighed on them more heavily. The waves were larger, the air was colder, and Kaiba watched the slightest puff of air float up before his eyes like dragon-breath. Much, much colder. Something pulled his attention back to the present, something wavering and-

“Atem.”

“Yes?” Atem’s shoulders twitched, and Kaiba wondered how long they had been traveling in silence.

“You’re…flickering.”

Atem stopped, swimming up to the edge of the boat. Most of his face was too dark to be sure, but Kaiba could just make out a tinge of purple on Atem’s lips, and the light that surrounded him was dimming by the second.

“Get in the boat. You need to warm up. I doubt you’ve ever been north of the equatorial current.”

Atem opened his mouth, about to argue, but an uncontrollable shiver seized him and he seemed to think better of it. He rolled over the edge into the boat, draping his tail over one of the seats. Kaiba grabbed some blankets, wrapping one around Atem’s shoulders. He put his hands to Atem’s cheeks, and Atem jumped again.

“You’re freezing.”

“I just want to get out of here as fast as possible,” Atem said, frowning out at the blank walls of fog that shut in their boat.

“We’ll never get out of here at all if you turn into a damn icicle or swim yourself to death.”

“Fair enough.”

“Can’t you lose the tail? I’m sure I remember that. You’ll warm up more quickly if you’re smaller.”

“I can. I just don’t like to. And it’s exhausting.”

Kaiba resisted the urge to snap at him, and sat down on the bench, biting into a biscuit. He was getting tired of them, and if he was really dead he probably didn’t need to eat at all, but it made him feel more human.

“At least start sleeping here. It’s idiotic to swim off somewhere else to sleep, and you always come back looking more exhausted than when you left.” Realizing Atem was staring at him curiously, Kaiba scowled. “Can’t lead me out of here if you get eaten by something.”

“Ah.”

Atem nodded, a strange sad smile playing on his lips. Without another word he curled up against the wall of the boat, wrapping one of the blankets around his shoulders.

Kaiba’s rest was never easy on this desolate ocean, but that night had been particularly bad. He eventually gave up, leaning against the hull and watching Atem’s blissful snoring with gritty eyes.

“Damn this place,” he muttered to himself, his voice sounding too loud in the silence.

The back of his neck prickled, and he tried to rub it away. It was exhausting, being so constantly on edge, and it was obviously wearing on Atem too. As much as Kaiba tried to remind himself that it was fair punishment for killing Kaiba, or getting Kaiba killed, whatever, watching the circles deepen under Atem’s eyes brought him no satisfaction whatsoever.

The luminous glow of life that had seemed to surround Atem at first was dimming, and the murky waters of the underworld seemed to cling to Atem’s skin for too long after he’d climbed into the boat to rest for the night. His face had taken on an uncomfortable, malnourished pinch, even though Kaiba had been sneaking him more than his share of the food. He was sure Atem noticed, but both of them carefully avoided mentioning it.

Everything here seemed to fade, as the white dragon was fading from the sides of the boat, washed away little by little by the tongues of fog. The food seemed to help, but there was no doubt in Kaiba’s mind that he and Atem were fading too.

If the night had been bad, the day promised to be worse. There had been no weather to speak of, other than the ever-present fog, but something new was in the air. If his internal clock was anywhere near accurate, it should have been bright, not gray-green and darkening by the minute. Small, sharp gusts whipped across the boat, and between them the sail hung like an unstrung puppet. Every bone in Kaiba’s seafaring body was screaming at him to make for the nearest shore.

“Atem.”

He was awake in an instant, blinking groggily, but wide awake the moment one of the breezes and the first drops of rain hit his face. Always the more expressive, Atem’s face showed what Kaiba only felt: they were in for a rough ride.

Without a word, as if they’d done it a thousand times--had they? Kaiba wondered silently--they moved between the hulls, tying down what they could, making sure all the weight was even in the boat. Kaiba held out his hand, not even looking, and Atem was there with a rope to secure the sail.

“You should get to safety before it hits.” Kaiba tugged the ropes, checking his knots.

“No.”

Kaiba turned, satisfied with the ropes.

“Don’t be stupid. You have a much better chance down there, if you go deep enough. And I’m already dead, if you recall.” He began shifting the remaining supplies, making sure the boat was balanced.

“And when you’re blown so far from me that I lose all hope of finding you?” Atem’s voice was dangerously soft, but Kaiba fiercely ignored his better judgement.

“Then leave. You’ll just be more of a hindrance during a storm without legs.”

“And what, return to Kisara and Mokuba without you?” Atem’s voice had lost its even keel, rising in some emotion more vulnerable than anger. “I could never--gods above, will you look at me?”

Kaiba steeled himself and looked. The wind whipped his wet hair into his eyes, and Atem’s hands were there to brush it away.

“I love you.” Kaiba opened his mouth to argue, but Atem reached up and laid a finger over Kaiba’s lips. “I know you don’t feel the same, and I knew the moment I let you die that I had lost any chance of that. I know if we make it back I’ll never see you again. I deserve that, and it changes nothing. I am not going to stand back in safety and watch you torn away from me a second time.”

Something crept up from Kaiba’s stomach, strangling him silent as the rain began to fall in earnest. For once, in as long as he could remember, no answer came to his lips. He tried with all his might to push it down, but the truth of what Atem said pushed back. _He got me killed. He’s irritating as hell every time we cross blades. He crossed the veil of death to get to me. I-_

Another wave hit the side of the boat, fast enough that it caught the edge, soaking them both with icy spray. Kaiba swore, jumping for the tiller to turn them into the waves, his feet slipping on the wet wood. He swore again when looked back in time to see Atem changing, gritting his teeth as his tail split down the middle and smoothed into skin.

Atem began rummaging through the blankets, tearing into one with the knife till he had something to tie around his wait. Kaiba had to focus his full attention on keeping them in line with the waves. They came faster and higher, and although he couldn’t hear it he could feel the strain of the ship through the soles of his boots. Then, soaked through and half blind from the rain, he heard the wind. It grew no stronger, but began to groan, howl, shriek past Kaiba’s ears, full of something disturbingly like voices. No, definitely voices, and fingers, plucking at Kaiba’s clothes, hissing in his ear.

_ You’re dead, Seto._

_ Your time is over._

_ You failed._

_ You don’t deserve another chance._

_ Join us._

_ Stop struggling._

_ Be at peace._

“No.” Kaiba growled, fighting to stay focused on his task.

_ The world of the living is not yours!_

_ You belong with us!_

_ Why should you get to go back when you failed?!_

A wave leapt over the prow, hitting Kaiba full in the face. He braced himself in time, but instead of sweeping past as he thought it would, the wave _pulled_ at him, full of ghostly eyes and grasping hands, and he felt his feet leave the ground. He clung to the edge of the boat, felt splinters curling up under his nails, slipping, slipping-

_ You will not leave!_

“No!”

The wind rose to a howl in his ears, almost blotting out Atem’s cry. Kaiba’s eyes snapped open, even through the storm, and his heart shuddered inside his ribcage. Atem was there, hands around Kaiba’s wrists, one leg hooked over a bench, hair wet and wild around his face. His eyes were wide, and his face was lit from below by the pyramid that always hung around his neck, throwing the exhausted circles under his eyes into sharp relief. Atem’s eyes flashed in the light, and shadows flared off his skin, shoving back the ghostly hands that tried to pull Kaiba away into the depths. Another wave battered them, and Atem’s nails bit into Kaiba’s skin.

“You can’t have him,” Atem hissed, and the shadows around him grew dark as the blackest night, ice cold where they touched Kaiba’s skin. He tasted metal on his tongue.

The air around him screamed, and then he was stumbling back onto the boat. The spirits of the dead roared their fury, and then, with eerie suddenness, the sea was calm. The boat rocked with a last wave, and then was still.

Kaiba and Atem blinked, their hands still clasped around each other’s wrists, watching the fog around them lighten, slowly clearing till Kaiba could almost see the horizon.

“Oh. Good,” Atem whispered, his knees buckling underneath him just as Kaiba turned at the quaver in Atem’s voice.

Kaiba barely managed to catch him as he collapsed, lowering Atem into his lap. For one raw, desperate moment, Kaiba thought Atem was dead, and Kaiba’s eternally sure fingers trembled where they rested on Atem’s cheek. Then Atem’s chest gave a slow rise and fall, and nearly nauseous relief flooded through Kaiba’s body.

Recovering himself, Kaiba arranged Atem, propped up on some blankets against the hull. He busied himself--purposefully avoiding looking at the drained slump of Atem’s sleeping form--bailing water from the boat, retying the sails, and organizing what remained of their supplies. When there was nothing left to do, Kaiba sat, reluctantly, and watched Atem sleep. He watched the minute twitch of Atem’s hands, the flutter of his lashes, the slow, encouragingly steady movement of his chest. Kaiba didn’t notice himself move till his hand was already in Atem’s hair, brushing the ridiculous bangs out of his eyes.

“Damn it,” Kaiba muttered, but he was long past the point where he could deny the obvious.

It took nearly a day, judging by the light, before Atem opened his eyes. His lashes fluttered, his breath quickened, and he tried to push himself upright. Kaiba grabbed a container of water, carefully looping his arm under Atem’s shoulders and propping him up. Atem sipped weakly at the mouth of the jug, and then turned his head to rest against Kaiba’s chest.

“You are alive,” Atem managed.

“So are you.”

Atem sighed, relaxing into Kaiba’s arm without a second thought.

“How do you feel?”

“I will recover. Not today, but soon. And I feel as if we will not be tested again until…until the end.”

Kaiba was silent for a while, still exhausted himself.

“Did I know you could do that? Summon the shadows to do your bidding or whatever nonsense that was?”

Atem laughed softly, his breath tickling Kaiba’s skin.

“Only you would call the magic that just saved your life nonsense. No, I am not sure that I knew either. I am beginning to wish that I had not promised these pendants to Ryou at all. We know so little about them.”

For a moment Kaiba considered the idea of refusing to turn over the pendants once they returned, but he remembered too many stories of what happened to those who crossed the witch. Old wives tales or not, there were enough of them to carry some weight.

“Kaiba…” Atem pulled away from him, sounding a little strangled, and Kaiba looked down. He realized he’d been tracing his fingers over Atem’s waist, following the ridge of his hip, as naturally as if he’d been tapping his fingers as he thought. “I don’t--It’s not that I mind, it just doesn’t feel right when you--well, you don’t remember,” he finished half-heartedly.

Kaiba looked down at him, resisting the urge to pull Atem close again.

“Then stop dancing around it and remind me. I remember most of it. I remember how we met. You had the gall to suggest you were a better swordsman.”

Something lit back up in Atem’s eyes.

“You never will let that go, will you?”

“Not until I disarm you.”

Atem burst out laughing, ignoring Kaiba’s mildly insulted frown, only stopping when he started to cough and had to reach for the water jug.

“I keep telling you, you’re too focused on power. You try to use your height and your reach to overwhelm your opponent and forget all about reacting to their strategy.”

“The minute we get back to land I’m going to make you eat those words.”

Atem sighed, a smile still playing about his lips.

“Fine, tell me what you remember.”

“We met. We hunted the same monster, the one that destroyed my home when I was young, and the one that kidnapped your brother. We…” It came back slowly as he spoke, little lights stringing together in his brain like ships lanterns, glimmering in the night. “Sometimes you’d take human form and duel me.” Kaiba’s mouth twitched. “Of course you rely on strategy, your footwork was appalling.”

“Possibly because the vast majority of my life I have not possessed feet,” Atem cut in dryly. “Your stroke was just as bad. Imagine, a sailor who can’t swim properly.”

“And how is my _stroke_ now?” Kaiba smiled smugly.

Atem grinned.

“Your _swimming_ is perfectly adequate. For a human.”

Kaiba glared, but he couldn’t refute what Atem said so he fell back into silence. They watched as the skies continue to clear. Atem hesitated, and then brought his hand to rest on Kaiba’s knee. Kaiba pulled his arm a little tighter around Atem’s waist, and they fell asleep that way, lulled by the gentle rocking of the waves.

It only took another day for Atem to lose his patience.

“Are you sure?”

“If I do not get some water on my skin, I will surely shrivel up and die,” Atem grumbled. “Now are you going to help me or not?”

Kaiba frowned, reluctantly helping Atem out of the blankets. Atem turned, sliding backwards off the boat and stopping with his arms resting on the edge. “Gods, that feels like heaven,” he groaned, heaving a sigh of relief as his legs merged quickly into a tail that flickered back and forth beneath the water. Kaiba watched it, glittering under the little waves, and some color seemed to come back into Atem’s face. Without warning, Atem pushed off, throwing himself bodily back into the water with a great splash. Kaiba jumped after him without a thought, catching Atem around the waist.

“I’m _fine_. Please.”

Atem was laughing, and indeed treading water perfectly, without a hint of weakness. Kaiba scowled, yanking away from Atem and swimming back to lean against one of the outriggers.

“You dying of fatigue would be a great inconvenience, you know,” Kaiba muttered.

Atem laughed again, swimming up to Kaiba and crowding him against the boat.

“Be careful, someone might think you care.”

He took Kaiba's face gently in his webbed hands, his nails tickling Kaiba's jaw. They were close, so close that Kaiba could feel Atem’s breath against his cheek, could count the lines around his eyes as he smiled. Something jumped in Kaiba’s chest, and he leaned more heavily on his left arm so he could slide the right around Atem’s waist.

“Who says I don’t?” Kaiba whispered, and pressed their lips together.

He kissed Atem carefully, almost delicately, because of the razor sharp teeth, he told himself. He could remember other kisses now, scattered occasionally throughout his life, but he could remember nothing that had felt like this. It was _soft_, where so little in Kaiba’s life had been, just natural, easy warmth, like lying on the beach in the sun. Kaiba pulled away, needing to make sure, and Atem looked up at him with stars in his eyes.

“I see.” Atem said simply, and then they were kissing again.

[ ](https://mimibanii.tumblr.com/post/187082397953/heres-my-full-piece-i-did-for-duelmepharaoh-s)

*****************************

It was slow, still, gentle, because of the teeth, Kaiba reminded himself firmly. Then Atem grazed Kaiba's lips with his fangs, and Kaiba was forced to reevaluate. He growled in frustration, trying to tread water and wrap his arms around Atem at the same time. Atem laughed, pulling Kaiba's legs apart around the broad waist of his tail, holding them both up in the water easily. Kaiba considered being offended, but decided there were more important things that demanded his attention.

He ran his hands over Atem's skin, sometimes soft, sometimes scaled, all arching into his touch. Going both on instinct and memory, Kaiba brushed his lips over Atem’s gills, layering kisses over the skin just behind them. Atem shuddered, tipping his head back with a groan.

"Your body remembers, even if you do not." Then Atem's grin turned mischievous, and a chill ran down Kaiba’s spine. "Hold on, Seto."

With a powerful sweep of his tail, Atem lifted Kaiba up to sit on one of the outriggers, barely giving him time to grab on. Atem rested his arms on Kaiba’s thighs, untying Kaiba's trousers with his teeth. Atem kissed the bulge in his underwear, and Kaiba's hands almost slipped on the slick wood.

"I told you to hold on," Atem said, grinning.

He took Kaiba's underwear in his teeth, lifting it carefully, freeing Kaiba's cock and kissing it again. Kaiba jerked his hips impatiently, almost falling off the outrigger again in the process.

Instead of mocking him, Atem simply held him tighter and continued to tease, dragging his lips up and down Kaiba's length, then retracing his steps with quick laps of his tongue. He finally gave the head a teasing suck, and Kaiba actually gasped, thanking the gods it was too dark for Atem to see him blush. Atem gave a pleased hum, opening his lips and sliding the rest of Kaiba's cock into his mouth, and Kaiba barely held back a cry. Atem's mouth slid easily down, taking half of him in short bobs of his head. Then those short bobs grew longer, and Kaiba drank in the sight of the whole length of his cock disappearing between Atem’s lips. The barest prick of Atem’s carnivore’s teeth as he paused to kiss Kaiba’s thighs sent jolts of fear and heat so strong up Kaiba's spine that he thought he might explode. His hips jerked, and Atem groaned.

“Gods, I missed watching you like this.”

“Of course you did,” Kaiba smirked, reaching down and beckoning Atem up into his arms.

Atem just laughed and pulled himself half into Kaiba’s lap. He reached down between them, curling his fingers around Kaiba’s length and stroking him far too slowly. Kaiba ran his nails lightly over Atem’s belly, farther down till he found the wet, inviting slit in the front of Atem’s tail. His lips twitched as a memory surfaced of them laughing their way through their first try at sleeping together.

Once he’d gotten used to it, Atem’s erogenous zones weren’t so different after all. He stroked the opening in the scales, and it twitched under his attention, slowly giving way till his fingertips slid through into Atem’s body. He slid them in and out, gently at first, then pushing them in all the way to the knuckles in a rush. Atem’s breath grew quicker, and he kissed Kaiba hard on the mouth, threading his fingers through the back of Kaiba’s hair. Kaiba pushed two fingers deeper inside Atem, stroking what Kaiba could only think of as a cock, but that only emerged from Atem’s body when he wished it.

“How do you want it?” Kaiba growled between kisses.

“You’ll have to lift me higher than that if you want to fuck me,” Atem said in answer, nibbling Kaiba’s ear just this side of too hard.

Kaiba groaned, lifting Atem higher till his cock was aligned with Atem’s entrance. Atem braced himself on Kaiba’s shoulders, slowly lowering himself onto Kaiba’s length with a sigh, encasing him in warmth.

For a moment Kaiba regretted the fact that they were balanced precariously on one of the outriggers, but then Atem began to rock against him, and he couldn't find it in himself to care. He held onto the boat with one hand, sliding his free hand down Atem’s back, savoring the flex of Atem’s muscles, and eventually curled around Atem’s waist. Kaiba pulled Atem harder against him, driving a rough groan from Atem’s lips. Kaiba rolled his hips as best he could, grinding his cock against the hard length still hidden inside Atem’s body. Atem cried out Kaiba’s name, tightening around his cock, and the warmth of Atem’s cum spilled out between their bodies. Kaiba swore, thrusting into Atem, so slick he could hear the wet slap of their movements over Atem’s gasps, till the whole ocean seemed to shiver and his cum joined Atem’s, dripping out over their thighs.

*****************************

They rolled into the boat, resting, and Kaiba had the presence of mind to pull a blanket over them before their sweat could cool in the frosty air.

“Whatever happened,” Kaiba murmured at last, “you came back for me.” Atem rested his face against Kaiba’s chest, avoiding his eyes, but for once didn’t have it in him to argue.

Unfortunately, this could never last.

They heard it long before they saw it. The half-hearted snap of the sails and the creak of wood traveled strangely in the fog, seeming to come from all around them. Atem grew more and more quiet, till he didn't answer even when Kaiba spoke. The ship emerged, the dragon on the prow staring at them with dull grey eyes. The sails were tattered, swaying like a shroud, and the stillness of death hung in the air like the pressure before a storm. Kaiba swallowed. He looked over at Atem, who looked half dead himself. Kaiba knew better than to ask what he was walking into, but to his surprise Atem spoke.

"I have a request." Kaiba raised his eyebrows. "I want to bring you back to Mokuba and Kisara. I do not know that you'll want anything to do with me after you see what happened, but please, remember that. He needs you. After we return to the living world, you'll never have to see me again."

There was no answer to that, after everything that had happened, so Kaiba only nodded. He reached for the rope ladder that led up the side of his ship. The fibers pricked his palm. He had almost expected his hand to pass right through it, but it bore his weight all the way up to the deck. He didn't look back.

His memory felt sound again, but for the looming gulf between bearing down on their enemy and waking up alone with salt on his lips. Here would be his answers. Sounds began to echo around him, shouts, screams, the splintering of wood, and phantoms of his crew flickered grey like overcast waves before his eyes. Then he saw himself, standing at the wheel, teeth bared and knuckles white where he gripped the wood. Kaiba stood beside himself, and he could hear the boom of thunder and the chill of invisible rain on his skin. Steeling himself, Kaiba gripped the wheel, right where his own ghostly hands were resting.

_ The storm broke over him like a tsunami, whipping his hair and his clothes into a frenzy. He was soaked to the skin, and the roar of the sea and the battle alike raged in his ears. For a moment he was disoriented, and then a shout and the ripping of sailcloth brought everything into focus. _

_ Another ship smashed into their side, and orders flew from his own lips, rising above the wind and rain. The memory flickered, and his crew was spread over the two ships, locked in combat with sailors, no, nothing human anymore, who were glassy-eyed and half grey ooze instead of flesh and ignored all but the most debilitating wounds. He scanned the fighting, looking frantically for- _

_ "Go!" Honda yelled in his ear, grabbing for the wheel and elbowing Kaiba away. "Isn't this what you've been waiting for?" _

_ Kaiba nodded, and the world narrowed down to a single point. _

_ There he stood on the deck of the other ship, laughing madly as his strange, hook-bladed sword swung, glinting through the curtains of rain. He was tall, taller even than Kaiba, and slim, his pure white hair and skin almost glowing. His eyes were dark and full of stars, but not the familiar stars that mapped out the oceans Kaiba knew. Looking into the creature's eyes, one grew dizzy and lost, looking up into a sky full of cruel dark beings that could drive you to madness simply by showing you a small fraction of what they were. _

_ A sudden fear gripped Kaiba, that if he ever got close enough to pierce this monster's skin, the unfeeling malice inside would leak out into the world and bring about its utter ruin. Then he saw Atem, fighting his way ever closer to this thing. Pushing through the fear that shackled his limbs, Kaiba raced down the deck, his boots slipping in the wet, and took a flying leap over the rails. He skidded to a halt beside Atem, and the creature paused, his whip curling to the deck. _

_ "Oh, another? I recognize you." The creature glanced at Kaiba and Atem's weapons, its eyes twinkling. "You've both done well to find weapons that could actually harm me." _

_ It blinked at them, and Kaiba's head spun. His limbs slowed, as if he were trying to move underwater. He saw Atem shake his head, suddenly disoriented. _

_ "Those from your village are gone, I'm afraid. But your brother..." The creature shrank, skin darkening and hair curling up, till- _

_ "Yugi!" Atem gasped, his weapon lowering just a fraction. _

_ Any second, Kaiba thought, Atem would realize it was a trick. That second never came. As Atem stood in shock, the creature flickered towards them, and the cool curved metal brushed Kaiba’s neck, just under his jaw. _

_ "Atem, kill it, kill-" The blade shifted, and Kaiba knew if he tried to speak again it would split his throat in half. _

_ "Well?" The gleeful smile looked out of place on not-Yugi's face, as the horror looked out of place on Atem's. "Can you run your brother through to save the human you love?" _

Love?_ Kaiba blinked. He heard Kisara's scream faintly, as if from a distance, and felt light and heat growing at his back. _

_ "Too late," the creature taunted in Yugi's voice, and the sword twitched in its hand. _

_ It was too quick for Kaiba to feel pain for very long. He just felt cold, freezing, falling backwards over the rail, and then colder still as the water began to seep into his bones. _

Kaiba felt himself hit the deck from somewhere very far away. _Shit._ And then--_ That idiot really did get me killed. _Shortly followed by--_ Is that what he was so worried about?_ He tried to move, but his limbs still seemed caught in the clutches of death. _Come on. Get up._

“Gods Seto, please wake up. He’s here.” Atem hissed in his ear, shaking him, and Kaiba’s fingers finally managed a weak twitch.

“You two are becoming quite the annoyance.”

It was that voice, more than anything, that forced Kaiba up to his knees and then his feet, staggering, groping for a sword that wasn’t there. The creature stood there, smiling at them with amusement that didn’t seem to reach its cold and endless eyes. But either death or something else had changed him, Kaiba realized, because the madness that lurked in this creature didn’t seem so foreign anymore.

“What do you want, you monster?” Atem barked, fingers digging into Kaiba’s arm.

“For you two to stay here in the land of the dead, comfortably out of my way.”

Atem got back to his feet, pulling his sword from its sheath.

“There are two of us and one of you. How do you intend to stop us?”

The thing’s mouth only grew wider, showing more teeth than was entirely natural. It didn’t bother to reach for a weapon, but a deep purple light began to flicker around its limbs.

“Why would I stop you? All I have to do is stand by and let our dear Kaiba do what comes most naturally to a man of such vengeful temperament.”

Cold trickled through Kaiba’s veins, and he felt his body turning against his will. His sword was in his hand, from where, he couldn’t say. He stepped away from Atem, turning to face him, weapon at the ready.

“No…” Atem whispered.

“You did kill him, after all. Isn’t this what you deserve?”

“What I deserve?” Atem echoed weakly, his sword point wavering as he turned to face Kaiba. Then his jaw set. “No. What have you done to him? Afraid to face us in a fair fight, you coward?”

The thing laughed, and all the hairs stood up on the back of Kaiba’s neck.

“But why would I face you in a fair fight, when I can watch you die on your lover’s blade instead?”

Before Kaiba could blink, he was lunging forward, knocking Atem’s sword up and to the left, only missing when Atem managed to leap to the side.

“Of course, he still relies too much on the power of his strikes. But how can you kill what is already dead? You’ll tire eventually, and then…” The creature circled them as they traded blows, like a shark that could already smell blood in the water.

Everything was coming in flashes, and Kaiba could barely keep up. He wanted Atem to feel his pain. He leapt forward, unleashing a barrage of parries and repostes that forced Atem ever farther down the deck.

But he…cared for Atem, didn’t he?

Kaiba’s sword wavered, and the creature scowled, twiddling his fingers in Kaiba’s direction. The ice solidified in Kaiba’s veins, jerking him forward again to beat Atem’s sword out of the way. He caught Atem’s shoulder, slicing deep. The blood was red and shocking against Atem’s skin, and the creature clapped, delighted. Kaiba grinned, the haze of bloodlust deepening, but-- _He’s holding back. I refuse to fight Atem at anything less than his best._

The creature was right over Atem’s shoulder now.

“I grow bored of your resistance. Kill him.”

Kaiba dug in with every ounce of his will, but his body was still moving into position. The creature grabbed Atem’s shoulders, whispering in his ear.

“You know him. Until he kills you, this darkness in his heart will never let him rest. If you love him, set him free.”

Atem shook his head, trying to throw off the creature’s evil magic, but his sword dropped, and all he could do was look into Kaiba’s eyes as death came for him.

Kaiba’s calves tensed.

_ No._

His front foot stepped forward.

_ No! I love him!_

_Thump. _Something beat in Kaiba’s chest. _Thump-thump._ Not in, _on._

The rest of his body followed his arm, like lightning, his sword driving deep through the frail resistance of flesh.

Atem gasped, collapsing to his knees. Kaiba stepped over him, forcing his sword deeper into the body of the monster that had so nearly taken everything from him again. The thing choked, shocked, black ichor running down its front.

“How--you shouldn’t have been able to--”

Then the thing looked down, to where the small golden rod glowed dark and fearsome against Kaiba’s chest, staring the creature down as coldly as the man who wore it. The creature blinked, its knees giving out, sliding off Kaiba’s sword and thudding to the deck.

“Oh.”

Then, horribly, it began to laugh. A great, cackling laugh, bubbling up uncontrollably till its own blood whet its lips.

“Of course, you-” It coughed wetly, its eyes growing dim. “You may have defeated me, but my master has many avatars in this world.”

It dropped to its hands and knees, baring its bloodstained teeth in desperate glee.

“And if that thing has been found, you may doom yourself yet.”

It gave another harsh, wracking cough, and fell prone to the deck, its body oozing and hissing as it dissolved into nothing but a dark pool. Kaiba could still see the cold lights of stars glittering out of it, and he turned away with a shudder.

Atem looked up at him, wordless, and Kaiba dropped the blade, pulling Atem up into his arms. The world dropped out from under them and they were sinking, down into the icy water like a stone.

He sunk faster and faster, pulled down by some unnatural current. His limbs began to stiffen in the cold. Suddenly Atem moved in his arms, but Atem didn’t swim for the surface. Instead he began swimming down, faster and faster. Kaiba's instincts were screaming at him to break free, to try and escape the growing pressure of the water, to fight his way out of Atem's grip. Instead he thought about Mokuba and only tightened his arms around Atem's waist.

They went down and down, till Kaiba could barely feel the heat of Atem's skin, and then it happened. They sped up, incredibly, and Kaiba's stomach spun till he felt the biscuits he'd eaten trying to escape. Something pounded suddenly in his chest, and his lungs seized. He only barely kept his mouth shut, and then they broke the surface beneath them. Kaiba gasped, trying to reorient himself to gravity and gratefully sucking in air.

"We did it..." Atem breathed, one arm keeping Kaiba balanced in the water till he regained his senses. Then he looked away, staring awkwardly along the shore. "The others said they would remain nearby, and I'm sure Kisara has sensed you by now. I'll wait till they get here and then...I’ll be on my way." Atem’s voice wavered for a moment, as though it had almost come out as a question.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"What?"

"You think I hate you because you got me killed?"

"Of course!" Atem snapped. "It was a trick, and I fell for it! Kisara fried that creature to ashes, and we found Yugi in the hold safe and sound. You could have been lost forever in that horrible place."

"And you think I would have been able to kill someone who looked like Mokuba to save you?" Atem gaped at him, trying to decide if he was offended or relieved. "Besides, until I can disarm you at least half the times we fence, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Atem shook his head, bewildered, but was saved from having to answer by delighted shouts as a boat appeared around a nearby point of land, Kisara flying in the lead.


	6. Epilogue

Ryou's delicate fingertips moved without thought, weaving seaweed strands around the shafts of feathers and through the holes in rocks. He always set out with a pattern in mind, but somehow it never turned out exactly how he'd pictured. It wouldn't be magic if it did.

_ He's getting impatient. _

"So you keep telling me," Ryou muttered to the empty room. "Just a little longer. He's waited tens of thousands of years, surely another day or two won't make much difference." He felt Bakura sigh.

_ You know how knowing something is close to happening makes time go slower? _

"You know how I have barely any control over any kind of magic other than that of the sea? I'm pushing the limits of good sense as it is."

_ Because you're always so sensible when you get invested in something.  _

"Shut up." Ryou finally grinned, his fingers turning unbidden into a more complicated series of knots. "At least Kaiba eventually gave up the last piece. He looked ready to send Atem right back to the realm of the dead for promising me one of his things, but Kisara managed to convince him it was the smart thing to abide by the deal." 

The fire snapped in the stone hearth, sending sparks flickering out against the grate. The strands twisted together, forming a kind of braid, and the stone and feather ladder rungs began to climb up its length, order forming from the apparent chaos of the mass of materials spread across the table.

_ You still won't tell me? _

"Nope."

_ Pretty please? _ Bakura purred, wrapping his ghostly arms around Ryou's shoulders.

"Your wiles won't work on me, you know," Ryou sighed, shivering at the chill. "No, I will not tell you why I'm helping you." Bakura flopped against his back, grumbling.

_ It'd be so much easier if I could just read your mind like I could all my other hosts. And you seemed to like my wiles just fine the other night. _

Ryou flushed, but kept working. Thin golden wire joined the strands of seaweed, braiding the golden charms into the mix, and now they came together as obedient as if these strange materials had been together since the world began.

"You've discovered my plot. I'm being mysterious just to keep you interested. And I know I’m your favorite host anyway; I’m the only one whose body hasn’t dissolved into sand from a week or two of your company."

_ Mhm. _ Bakura nibbled his ear, but Ryou kept working.

"If you want this thing to open the tomb of Nephren-Ka instead of blowing us to smithereens, you'd better not distract me."

_ Oh. Later then. I've waited for this too long to fuck up now.  _

With a last tug of his teeth, Bakura vanished into the air, or wherever it was that he went when he wasn't with Ryou.

“That’s better.” 

Ryou sighed, staring at the seven charms that dangled from the finished braid. Something prodded him, and he wrapped the edges inwards, forming a necklace. One of the golden eyes, suspended in the middle of a ring, looked up at him and gave a slow blink. 

“This might be a very bad idea,” Ryou muttered to the empty room. 

Sending the friend of a friend into the underworld, possibly never to return, wasn’t something he had done lightly. He had been truly glad to see Atem and Kaiba floating there in the water, if a little the worse for wear. If Ryou had gotten what he wanted in the process, what could be the harm in that? The necklace of golden charms stared back at him, impatient, urging him to put them on.

“Not yet,” Ryou sighed, pushing back his chair and locking the necklace inside one of his many cupboards. “First Bakura and I need passage to the central sea. Then we need to find the tomb. Then we hope the incantation works. Then I put you on, and not before. And then…” Ryou turned back to the table, picking up a lone tarot card and twirling it between his fingers till the sunlit sea lion was just a blur of gold. “I will get him back, whatever it takes.”


End file.
